Home again, home again

I am back home, after spending a few days back home. That means I am in Indiana right now, after being in Illinois. Tomorrow I will be heading to Ohio for the remainder of the week though. I will mostly be hiding out, trying to learn something and see if there is still a pulse.

It was a good time back home. There is no more beautiful scenery in all the world to me. We slept in my old room at my parents house. We saw some good friends we hadn't seen in awhile, and some good friends we had seen more recently. It's always hot at my parents house though. And the first morning I had to spread manure with a real manure spreader. You know it's a small town when you can drive a manure spreader down the streets. And when we left yesterday the power had went out during a storm during the middle of the night, and it didn't come back on until afternoon. We thought we were going to be stuck there, as we didn't have much gas in the tank, but we finally found out there was a station open 20 miles away.

We ate supper one night at a bar in Tiskilwa, which is a small village that has like 3 or 4 churches on one side of main street, and 3 or 4 bars on the other side (and that's about it). We also had a meal with several of Jane's brothers and some of their kids and grandkids in Kewanee - which is one of the towns we were seriously considering planting a church in about 9 years ago. We visited Jane's brother's cabin he built in the woods. I golfed for the first time in several years. The boyfriend (Drew) beat me (he had a 44), but I was happy with a 51 for nine holes. I always shoot my best on my first time, and get worse after that.

It was a rough trip for Bogie boy. He hadn't made the 5 1/2 hour trip for probably a year or more, and the arthritis in his back legs is much worse than it used to be. He could hardly walk the whole time we were there, and kept falling down. I had to carry him up and down the stairs every night and morning. He seems happy to be back in his usual surroundings.

I have to say, I didn't really like posting stuff ahead of schedule like I did last week. It seemed kind of fake or something. I dunno. I will have the computer next week, but I don't know if I'll post much or not. Not really in the mood at the moment (though I am writing this, I guess). Sometimes it takes my heart longer to return than the rest of me. It will be good to have another off week where I'm 'outta the office.' Lots to do today and tomorrow before I leave though.

Peace.

Off and running

Well, I guess it turns out that I am on vacation starting today. My "year" runs from August 1 through the end of July, and a couple months ago I thought I had used all my vacation for this year, but then... in looking back through my blog... I discovered that the one week I thought I had used was actually the year before. So... I had a whole other week of vacation and nothing to do. We may take a long weekend back to Illinois, but otherwise... it's a stay-at-home vacation. And I knew I was going to be off this week, but I wasn't sure exactly which days it was going to be until yesterday. Because of commitments I have next week, I decided it would be best to take off today through next Monday. Whatever that means.

So, anyway, last night I kicked off this vacation by being kicked out of the house. Jane was hosting a Pampered Chef party for our friend Rachel, and me and a buncha women with kitchen utensils just didn't seem like a whole lotta fun. So I decided it would be a good time to finally get my new running shoes.

I actually went to the Three Rivers Running Company last week while Jane was in Illinois by herself, but they were having registration for the Three Rivers Festival run the next day and the place was a madhouse. I walked in the door, freaked out, and walked right out. I had to go walk around the mall a bit to shake the claustrophobia outta my system. So I went back last night and it was better. As soon as I walked in the door a woman asked if she could help. I told her I needed shoes, and she asked if I'd been there before. I said I had but not as a customer, so she explained how they do things, and she took my shoes off, measured my feet, got me a pair of "trial" shoes, and hopped me up on the treadmill. We watched the videotape of me running, and she said I had good form, so I just needed a "neutral" shoe - which was what I actually had on.
So we sat back down and she detailed the different types of shoes, and said she would go pick me out a few other shoes to try on. I tried on several more, but the first ones I put on felt the best, so I just said I would take them. I didn't even think to ask how much they cost - though she said they were all "about the same."

You know, I have to admit - and I'm totally ashamed to be such a moron - but it was just a little distracting having this young women with mile-long perfect legs and the shortest of short shorts sitting down right in front of my face and touching my feet and whatnot. I think I would have bought a pair of snowshoes if she told me to. I know, I am a cad. And it's so unlike me to just walk in, try on a pair of shoes, and walk out with them. I NEVER buy anything without at least 2 or 3 trips to the store. Oh well, not going to dwell. I like my new shoes. They are Sauconey.

On the way home - coming down Clinton - I came upon a bunch of cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks. I saw on the news it was because they'd found a dead body. And when I drove past Headwaters Park it was just PACKED with people for Three Rivers Festival. On a Monday night, even!

I made a couple stops for groceries, and a back brace for when I mow, and headed home. All the party-goers were gone and Jane and Rachel were cleaning up. I ate some leftovers of what they had made.

I think today I may go to the doctor and see what's up with this rash. I got some new otc medicine and it made it worse. I also need to prepare a wedding ceremony for in a couple of weeks. I think I'll leave the rash out of that.

Guys with guns and the beautiful people

I am currently really ticked off at some people (not anyone in my church), so to avoid ruffling feathers I'll just show some more pictures from our vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

On the morning Jane and I went down to the beach to see the sunrise we were happened upon by two guys carrying automatic weapons (that's Jane on the lounge chair - not lounging). There were only a few people around, and out of the blue two dogs came ambling around the corner of the beach from the wild. We thought that was weird. The resort security guard headed toward the dogs, and then we see these two guys with guns appear. They weren't in military or any other type of uniform, so we're not sure what the deal was. But... after a chat with the security guard - in which hands were shook and smiles were shown - they continued their early morning stroll down the beach.


In the picture below you can just barely make out the leg of a lady in one of the chairs reading a book. I dubbed her and her husband "the beautiful people." They were probably older than us, and for some reason I think they were Russian or something - we didn't see them ever talk to anyone. Jane talked to him, but said the woman couldn't speak English. Jane called them "GB" and "HG" - for "green bikini" and "hairy guy" (I know, we're terrible). Anyway, every single day they were across the pool from our room, and they did nothing but read books (big ones too) and occasionally get in the pool. At one point she was reading "War and Peace" while I was reading "Of Mice and Men." They always seemed to eat at the same time as us, and usually at the same place, and they almost always held hands whenever they went anywhere. They were very polite and cordial to one another, and when she walked... lemme tell you... it was like a tall glass of champagne - with the slightest of sway. I mean, I'm thinking she was either a supermodel or actress or something. Anyway, it was innaresting, because they just always seemed to be 'there.' And they had this 'look' about them like they were famous or really wealthy.

I guess that's the kind of thing you do when you lay around a place for a week and don't do anything. Man, I wish I were there again.

That's me in the corner

This is me on our patio during the recent vacation in Punta Cana. I don't know if I just got out of bed, or if it was afternoon nap time. For the most part I didn't think about work too much while there. But I did plenty of thinkin. Although... maybe that was just a dream.

FYI - Jane just walked in and said something astounding that neither one of us knew before. When Charlton Heston gets captured on Planet of the Apes and they ask him where he's from, he says, "Fort Wayne, Indiana." Ha! Who'd a thought?

My wallet's gone!

Well, my wallet's not really gone. But I love that episode where Morty Seinfeld hollers that out when he goes to the doctor for his sore back... and my back hurts today.

I spent yesterday afternoon putting underlayment down in part of our kitchen, and then me and the guy who actually knew what he was doing decided to go ahead and rip up the old linoleum in the other part of the kitchen and the laundry room and bathroom. Ugh. The underlayment wasn't so bad, but tearing out linoleum is just not fun. I'm not used to manual labor like this anymore. But it will be much better having the linoleum out. It's all one nice even surface now. The new carpet is supposed to arrive next Tuesday. Bogie boy doesn't much care for the wood floor.

I need to mow the yard today, but I'm not sure if my back is up to bouncing around for 3 hours.

Photo: I could really use a dip in our pool in Punta Cana again. If you click on the pic you can also see the ocean in the background - just over the bridge.

Church thinkings

Some things that began to run through my head as our recent vacation was coming to a close:

When we attended Willowcreek (have I told you how much I love attending their worship gatherings?) I liked how they just started out with music, running different Scriptures across the screens, and they did announcements and stuff while the offering was being taken. Generally I start out with the announcements and whatnot, we pass the peace, then kick in with the music. And during the offering I will either play a contemplative song (cd) or I'll have Jane play something. Or sometimes we'll share praises/blessings during that time. I am torn though, because I like having a time for contemplation, but... I don't know... I would really just like to have all the resources Willowcreek has and their team of people to do the planning and leading. Yeah, that's the ticket.

When we went to Fran's church there were a couple of things I liked:

1. I liked how they did communion. They had two stations and partook by intinction (you dip the bread in the cup), and the bread guy said, "The body of Christ was given for you," and the cup lady said, "The blood of Christ was shed for you." We used to do that at seminary a lot. I like that. But I would have to find people willing to do that. This was all a part of their closing set of worship songs. I also liked that when people came up to take communion, they brought their offering and placed it on the table at that time. It was more an "act" of worship, rather than a "collection."

2. I also liked how they did just a couple of songs up front, then had the sermon, and then did several songs at the end - more contemplative during communion, and then ended more upbeat. I have actually been thinking of doing that this summer when we will have Jr. Worship for the whole hour instead of having them leave halfway through. I have always thought there should be more singing and prayer AFTER the message than before. At least the way I plan things there should be. I almost always start planning the service with the message first, and then try to incorporate all the songs and readings and whatnot around the main Scripture lesson for the day.

3. While sitting in the cafeteria where this church met, it occurred to me that their space isn't really any bigger than our worship space, yet they were able to fit so many more people in. I think it's not only because they had chairs instead of pews, but also how the chairs were spaced, and the kind of chairs they had. Let's face it - pews are stupid. And the way our worship space is set up, we have these long-ass pews up in front, and nobody wants to sit in them. I wouldn't want to sit in them either. What I would like to do is get rid of the long pews up front, get some chairs - and not those chairs that lock together that are basically then pews - but something small, but still comfortable. I think it's important to leave enough room between chairs and in front and back that people will feel comfortable sitting right next to someone. At Fran's church almost every chair was taken, but they were far enough apart that you didn't feel your space was being infringed upon. The problem at our place, though, is that we have wood under the pews, but carpet in the aisle and in front. And the floor isn't the same level where the wood and carpet are. I don't know why that is, but it would almost certainly need to be leveled, and it would be nice if it was all carpeted. I'm thinking this might be a battle though. But maybe it's time for something like this to take place. Either that or get a new building. I believe our space is what limits us (and not just in numbers), and it actually turns people away. We have never had trouble getting people to attend our services, but we can't keep them. And it's not all because of seating, but I think that's a big part of it.

So... just some things on my mind.

[Note: the picture is one I took of a random girl on the beach in Punta Cana as the sun was coming up. Click on the pic to enlarge it.]

DR vacation

We are back from the Dominican Republic, and vacation is over. I have to say... this was the best vacation we've ever had. I journaled about 30 pages in a notebook, but here's a brief summary for memory's sake:

• Spent the night before and after in Detroit, MI. The flights were good, and only 4 hours between Detroit and the D. R.
• We spent perhaps the best 8 days of our lives at the Dreams Resort in Punta Cana, DR. It was strange though, as this was the most luxurious place we've ever been, yet we saw the greatest poverty we've ever been exposed to. I wasn't prepared for the hour-long ride from the airport to the resort. It took me a while to get over. But the resort and the all-inclusive experience were incredible. I don't know that words can describe it. I haven't been that relaxed in a long, long time. I read Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men and Kerouac's On The Road while there.
  
• Afterwards we spent a couple days at my parents house in our old hometown of Buda, IL. We attended a Bible Study that we apparently started about 15 years ago and is still going on. It was nice to actually sit around with some people and pray and chat about things. This was also when Illinois had the earthquake, but we slept right through it.
  
• We spent our last night away in Joliet, IL. We attended the main Willowcreek Campus on Saturday night, and then went to a friends church in Plainfield on Sunday morning. It cost $4.50 in toll money just to drive from our hotel to Willow and back. But man I LOVE Willowcreek. This was my fourth or fifth time there. Nancy Beach gave a great message, but it's just the way they do their services that really captivates me. Understated excellence. I tried to sing, but I was choked up from the get-go.
  
• Both Sundays we were gone son Isaac took care of the music, and it was nice knowing daughter Carrie was around to look after things too. We were also happy that "the boyfriend" Drew was able to stay at the house and look after Bogey. It all made for a very relaxing, stress-free vacation.
• We did have internet access and our cell phones worked while in the D.R., but I resisted and didn't log on once.
  

Here are a couple more of the many pics we each took. The first one is the view we woke up to every day. This was taken from our patio. We had our own private lounge chairs and a table and chairs too.

Below is the lovely lady Jane with the sun rising behind her. We got up at 5:30 one morning to watch the sunrise, but it was a bit cloudy. It was still pretty darn cool though - even when the two guys with machine guns walked by. I have pictures of that too.